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My CO2 Freshwater Planted Aquarium

10K views 33 replies 17 participants last post by  Andrew 
#1 ·
Hi there, have just joined- i was invited to this forum after someone saw a picture of my tank on myspace, so i thought what better way to make your first post than to submit the picture that brought me to this forum.

I havent been keeping up with water changes this last month, and its just had a trim, it will be looking alot better at the end of the month, hope you like it, well here it is.

 
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#3 ·
Thanks!

Well lets see, riccia small specimen of cabomba, hairgrass this other bushy plant that i will have to dig out the name of, a variety of Anubia(large and small leaves) java fern various crypts tiger lotus lilly redX2 few others that i only know the latin for, will have to dig out list- oh and java moss.

I should have said it has 4x30 watt tubes for 6 1/2 hours illumination a day, CO2 injection pH6.8 Gh4 Kh3 26degrees C

Oh and its 10 weeks old.
 
#9 ·
Hello and welcome aboard, Andrew.:wave:

I was thinking about Takashi Amano, Andrew.:mrgreen: Your tank beats some of Amano's any day.:mrgreen:

:shock2: You'll have a great load of beauty added if discus are in it.:love: And then some rummy-nose tetras and diamond tetras.:checkedout:
 
#10 ·
its not that big 180 litres, i havae kept discus before but they are too much hassle and feeding bloodowrm every day is large load for a planted aquarium.
here is a pic of how the tank used to look.



i am not a fan of rummies, i am when i am ready going to put in 50 cardinals- all lil babies and grow them on to a might impressiive shoal.
I have kept so many species of fish, you cant help but marvel at a healthy shoal of deep red cardinals in a deep green tank- once the tank is emerald green in go the fish lol :) hopefully christmas time.
 
#11 ·
Great planted aquarium! Looks awesome before and after! Your java fern are amazing...How did they grow so nicely/big! Great job cant wait to see the shoal of cardinals :D :p

Nick
 
#12 ·
Andrew, do you still have the rams? I have 6 at the moment.:checkedout:
Yours look nice. I've never had veiltail rams.:mrgreen:
 
#13 ·
java fern- nope no special trick to it- just left them to it- just two small specimens thats all they were bless em! they have grafted themselves onto the driftwood to the rear now- i cheated with the anubia just bought them all lol :)

Rams died sadly lasted over a year, is that what they are veil tail, i just knew they werent the common peruvian variety- i think they were already mature when i bought them. They were good fish very inquisitive and like all cichlids quie intelligent they each had their own personality- and nothin picked on them. A pair spawned but nothing came of their efforts.

I cant wait to see the cardinals either lol, and as for comparing me to Amano well thats just blasphamy lol!
 
#14 ·
Hi Andrew.:wave:

Yes, they are veiltails. Stunning fish.:thumbsup:
My rams are from different generations. The last surviving ram of the 1st batch prior to comeback this year I bought is now about 9 months old(more like 10). He's 6 cm in size. That's far too big for an average ram I think.

The 5 young ones are probably siblings. All bought at the same time last September. They're about 5-6 months. These ones are by far the most beautiful rams I've kept. They look like wild species to me although more likely an F1 generation. The way they color up makes me think why I have not seen a lot of that with several rams I've kept and seen before.

I did own some rams 4 years ago but the current ones are better.:mrgreen:

P.S. These rams are such pests for ripping my black angelfish's fins.


Andrew said:
thats just blasphamy
It's still a plain truth.:checkedout:
 
#17 ·
Cheers people- ok i never said what fish are in there- ok i have 3 cardinals 12 shrimp ish you can never count them- 2 male dwarf rainbows and one fighter male who is a striking blue!

Once again thanks for all the comments, hopefully i can get it looking better by the end of the month!

To the moderators out there, should i start a new post with updates or keep this one going? Some forum moderators like to clock up the numbers, others like less clutter lol :)
 
#19 ·
I have amano shrimp- id say about 12 ish they never keep still so its hard to know exactly how many you have?
I have thought about the more colourful cherry but i have heard shrimp are territorial, and if its a choice between the 2 i will stick with the amano, apparently it is the more hardworking of the two.
 
#21 ·
Andrew, you'd better give Threadfin Rainbows a try.:checkedout: With a lot of dorsal fin displaying, your tank gets even busier aside from the shoaling cardinals, moving shrimps and darting praecox rainbows.:checkedout: :mrgreen:
 
#22 ·
you know i have thought about buying some but they are just so damn expensive here, like £5 a pair- no thanks lol.
Stick to my dream of cardinals i think- 50-80 at 50peach, i know they will only be babies at this price but its still a bargain.
 
#24 ·
Shrimps aren't territorial. I keep RCS (Red Cherry shrimp), Amanos, and Bamboo shrimps, including some unknown amano size shrimp. None show any type of territorial dispute. I find the RCS walking going all over the place, without any regards on what shrimp they step on. LOL

I like the tank. Love riccia. I wish I could grown them, but I'm going low tech, so no chance of them surviving.
 
#25 ·
Funny- well i read that somewhere- people have different experience dont they- right then the cheapest shrimp i find will be in my tank from now on lol
I have just changed my centre tubes, i have some crypts in my tank so i cant change the tubes all in one go for fear of turning the crypts into mush
 
#26 ·
Ok i had an accident at the start of the month, too much co2 went into the tank somehow, dont ask me how it just did, and i cooked all but 3 shrimp.
So i have now bought 9 so i am back on 12 ish again woo! This is a bit of a setback as i had intended to up the number of shrimp as the plant mass grew, i need many hands in there cleaning away. So i have to save and spend twice :(

Anyway i have just done another major water change so the tank is resting after this, and what with the absence of shrimp for a week the tank is not looking its best, there are algae whips here and there- but now the shrimp are back in force hopefully this will be taken care of.

I had also planned this week to buy a dozen ottos, sadly the supply at the LFS was contaminated with white spot- so i shall have to wait patiently once more :(

I really thought i would be getting my shoal of cardinals ready for christmas but it doesnt look like this will happen :( i really want the cleaning troop in there ready first 25 shrimp 15 ottos before introducing fish, o well.

What else have i done, i have changed 2 of my 4 tubes and what a difference this has made, will change the remaining 2 after payday well before christmas definetly, and i have also softened the water now, connuctivity meter reads less than 200 ppm, gh is down to 2. the reason for doing this is that i had too much salt in the tank and it had pushed the plants too far with fert, this had thrown the chemistry off balance and the plants were not growing, so by softening the water i aim to then bring it back up to a gh4 and a 300ppm its hard to make sense in writing, but its working in practice lol :)

Anyway i have taken some pictures, excuse the algae wips :oops:


can anyone id this plant for me??

I dont plant my java in the shade, and it seems to like the light in my tank


my little fighter
 
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